Playing The Field

Chapter 5

Taylor Swift

I replayed his words in my head "You should come to watch my game at Arrowhead"

How would that even work? Sure I would love to go and see him play but this would mean there's no turning back. We have been texting for months now and have hung out numerous times but this would mean everyone would know about us. Would he be able to handle that? In the past that has been the driving factor for why everyone left. I could never give them the peace they wanted, so they left.

If I go to this game, it would risk everything they had here. What we had now was perfect. We were in our own little bubble, hiding from reality and focusing on ourselves. I noticed that I had been quiet for a while now. Travis was looking at me with concerned eyes, wondering if he overstepped.

My eyes fluttered around my New York apartment where we were hanging out. "I'll tell you what," I said, getting up from the couch where we were sitting "If you can beat me at Uno, I'll come to your game"

I walked across the living room to the cabinet where I keep all my board games. I grab the box of uno cards and walk back to where Travis is sitting.

Travis's eye sparkled and his face cracked into a smile "You don't know what you got yourself into, Darling. Do you know how good I am at this game?"

"Can't be better than me," I say back, cracking a joking smirk. I kneel down beside the coffee table and Travis sits on the opposite side, wiggling his eyebrows. I shuffle the cards, attempting to keep intimidating eye contact with Travis. The cards drop out of my hands and spread everywhere across the floor. Travis starts laughing hysterically, falling onto his side on the plush carpet, while I let out a large sigh.

"That's one way to shuffle the cards" He chokes out. As I'm trying to collect all the cards I reach over to him and slap his arm. His very, very hard arm. Jesus that hurt. I look down at my hand. Red. Ouch. Not trying that again I decide.

"Shut up," I tell him, still sprawled across the floor trying to get all the cards. Travis sits up and helps collect the cards. Once we've collected all of them again, I put all my focus into shuffling them this time. When I look up to deal with them, Travis's eyes are locked on me, watching my every move. His smile widens when I make eye contact with him. I smile back, looking down to try and cover the blush that spreads across my face. It's a problem. Every time this man looks at me it's like my body turns against me and turns bright red and then when he flashes one of those godforsaken smiles, an even brighter shade of red.

Dealing them out we both intensely watch the cards, making sure no mistakes are made. I think I've met my match, competitiveness-wise.

The game rolls out with intense eye contact, competitive slams of cards and teasing and jeering. We're both on Uno now. It's Travis's go. He gives me a hard stare before slamming the card down into the middle of the table. The look of the +4 on top the the wildly messy stack makes me sick. "Hey! Not fair! You can't end on a power card!" I try and point out

"That's not how we played in the Kelce house. Sorry babe, but you lost" He jumps up and starts dancing on the carpet while humming a tune. Sitting back down on the carpet he links his eyes with mine "So what are you going to wear to my game? Keep in mind, Chief's colours and red and gold"

"I want a rematch," I say, squinting my eyes at him.

"Fine, but a deal is a deal, you're coming. What's the new bet now?" He asks.

"If I win," I think it over "you have to be a human easter egg for me," I tell him.

"What does that even mean" Travis laughs "A human easter egg? Like I have to be wrapped in sparkly foil for a day and dance around for you?" He laughs even harder.

I roll my eyes at him, laughing along with him. "No I mean you have to leave a hint about my next album release"

"Ohh," he says, catching on "Something blue right? For 1989?"

I smile and look down again because now not only is my weakness surrounding him his smile but also him knowing about my upcoming album.

"Yeah, that one" I try and say as nonchalantly as possible.

"OK deal, but if I win, we have to drive away from the game in my Cadillac" He responds, pointing his finger at me with a stern look.

I outstretch my hand across the table. Travis's hand meets mine and engulfs it, shaking slightly before softly squeezing it. Goosebumps scatter across my skin and my heart does a back flip but I clear my throat and deal out the next round.

We play for what seems like forever as I strategically plan out my every move. I didn't write a song about me being a mastermind to lose at Uno twice. I plan to hit him with the same move that he hit me with so I hold onto my plus 4 for the whole game as well as a reverse card.

It comes down to me with my special two cards left. Luckily, the colour is green, the same as my reverse card and I'm ready to fire.

I slam down the reverse card "Reverse back to me! UNO! Plus four! Bam" I yell. I jump up and down, attempting to do my victory dance. Travis buries his face in his hands and dramatically falls to the floor.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! In your face!" I mock. Travis gets up and steps closer to me. His hands come to the side of my face and pull me closer to him. He presses his lips against mine and wraps one arm around my waist. My arms instinctively wrap around his neck, making me need to press up onto my tip-toes just to reach him. His tongue slips between my lips, gently but also rough, as if he needs more and his arms tighten around my waist. When we pull apart he's breathing heavily and looking deeply into my eyes. I smile and he smiles (and then obviously, I blush)

"I still want to do that Cadillac thing though" I smile at him "That sounds fun."